Posted on August 21, 2017
By Keri Brenner, Marina Independent Journal
After years of inaction — and some would say neglect — San Rafael is moving ahead on what could end up as an $8 million project to dredge the San Rafael Canal and remove any contaminated mud.
“The city is taking this issue very seriously,” said City Manager Jim Schutz. “The canal is vital to San Rafael on so many levels — recreational, commercial, environmental and others.”
A first step is expected this fall, when the City Council will likely award a contract for a soil sediment sample test to determine how much contamination exists and how it needs to be disposed of, Schutz said. He said the city is partnering with Marin County supervisors Dennis Rodoni and Damon Connolly, Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, and members of the Friends of the San Rafael Canal to scope out a work plan for the soil sediment test and for later steps.
“This issue is so big,” said Friends of the San Rafael Canal co-founder Nadine Ahollinger. “The problem is that people are not aware that it’s affecting them.” She estimated that the soil sample test could cost up to $60,000, while the actual dredging and disposing of contaminated soil might have an $8 million price tag.
“The canal should be 6 feet deep, but in some areas, it’s only 2 feet deep,” she said.
Ahollinger is general manager of Helmut’s Marine Service Inc., one of more than 20 marine-related businesses directly affected by the lack of dredging. Problems are already cropping up, she said.
“We have a sailboat engine recall,” Ahollinger said. “And I’ve already had several customers call and say they can’t bring their boats in for the recall because they’re afraid their keels will get stuck in the mud and damaged.”
In addition to lack of marine access, locals are worried that the mud and silt could build up to a point where boat-related firms go out of business, kids learning to sail and paddleboard would have to go elsewhere, homeowners along the canal can’t access their docks and San Rafael High School, less than a block away, would cancel any waterfront activities for students.
“Homeowners here are frightened that their beautiful waterfront properties will lose their value like the homes in the Bahia neighborhood in Novato that have views of mudflats with rats running around,” Ahollinger said.
The entire San Rafael Canal was last dredged in 2001. A partial dredging was done in 2011, but it stopped short of the west end due to concerns about what to do with suspected contaminated soil. The source of the contamination is still unknown but could be revealed by the sample test, Ahollinger said.
“The sad part is, where they scratched it, that’s where all the marine businesses are,” said Ahollinger, whose parents came from Germany more than 30 years ago and started what is now a bustling business with 14 employees. “We can’t work on detailing the boats if we can’t get to them.”
Financing for the project is still unclear. Although the San Rafael Canal is part of the civil “work plan portfolio” for the San Francisco office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, no money has been allocated this year for dredging it, said Jay Kinberger, navigation program manager for the Corps’ San Francisco office. In addition, President Trump’s 2018 budget, released in March, does not include any canal financing.
“We have a portfolio of channels that we maintain, and San Rafael Canal is part of that portfolio,” Kinberger said. “But it’s pretty fair to say that, right now, San Rafael Canal is not currently funded.”
Once the city gets to a point where it needs permits to proceed with work on the project, it would apply to the Corps’ regulatory arm, Kinberger said. The regulatory arm of the Corps of Engineers does not finance any work plans, he added.
Ahollinger and others worry that by the time the canal rises to the level of top priority for financing, it will be too late.
“We need to preserve and maintain the infrastructure that has served San Rafael and the community for so many years,” said Bonnie Lowrie Preston, president of Lowrie Yacht Harbor, 40 Point San Pedro Road, in a letter to Huffman in July.
“It is suffering from delayed maintenance.”
Preston pointed out the urgency of preserving the canal for flood control, fish and wildlife habitat, fire protection and for generating property tax revenue from waterfront homes and businesses.
“I see new buildings and money being spent all over,” she added. “I don’t understand why funds cannot be used to maintain the major assets that we have and (which) have served us for many years in the past.”
Source: marinij.com
